Know yourself, Like yourself, Be yourself
I found myself a bit frustrated as I realized we started November and I most likely won’t be able to finish my book project before the end of the year. I’ve done what I believe needed to be done to complete it. I’ve made a decision to go with the JMT new publishing company announced last year. I also talked to a close friend who self-published her third book and went over the process, I even reached out to another friend whose published 15 books and owns a very successful marketing and publishing company.
Having chosen the word “completion” in the beginning of the year for 2019 caused me to feel this way. It honestly made me sad. I had the same feeling 2 years ago when I publicly stated that I’d be donating my long hair for cancer and regardless of the many times I scheduled this to happen, it didn’t. It’s not a good feeling. It was as if I had failed my mom, myself, God, everyone…
I recognized the need to reach out for help and talk about these feelings. Something interesting happened. I found immediate encouragement through different people and resources available to me. As I talked things through with my friend who self-published 3 books she said “Norma, if God placed those desires in your heart, than He will help you to see it into fruition”. I prayed about it and continued to listen to my sources of motivation and encouragement and just like that, the same message started to appear. I heard it from my mentor Mark Cole during an interview on a podcast with John Maxwell and Mark Buckingham and “turning setbacks into setups”, then during a mentorship call where Cole challenged us to identify why we’re not taking action on some of the things we set out to do this year. However, when I heard my friend Brook Thomas say “”When I hear the same message from different sources it makes me think that it is something important and that I need to meditate on it” I did not doubt that I had to write about it. It was as if everyone around me was conspiring to say the same thing over and over and with the only intention to make me realize that it was okay. That just because I felt like I failed because I had a deadline to finalize it, I completed the process and it’s on its way to be completed. It made me realize that I’m still growing, getting to know me and very important “like me” and not be so hard on myself.
Brook’s main point was “know yourself, like yourself and be yourself” and it has to do with knowing our strengths but also our “areas of opportunity” as Mark Buckingham would say or “weaknesses” as others would say. Brook challenged us to write three things in which we stand out and three things in which we have to improve.
In my case these are the 3 that come to mind:
1. I am persevering
2. I am a support for many people
3. I am spontaneous
Within the areas of opportunity to improve, it is perfectly clear that:
1. I need to be more organized (especially with my time and punctuality)
2. Apply limits (do not say “yes” to everything)
3. Be spontaneous (this could become a distracting area if you don’t control its thus reason why it’s listed as an area to improve)
The idea of knowing you better is to accept that we all have weaknesses and areas of opportunity to improve. Brook says that giving thanks, if someone gives you a compliment, is a sign of liking who you have become as a person. Many people find it difficult to receive praise or recognition for what they do or accomplish. Being able to know you well and like you makes it easier to be authentic and transparent with others. It has taken me a few years to feel comfortable with compliments that people give me and it’s taking me a lifetime to understand that it’s okay to use setbacks to setup something grand.
Through it all, I got clarity that the things I committed to finish this year (going back to school and my book project) will not disappear from my GOAL PLAN, they are part of my GROWTH PLAN and the urge to complete them got stronger than ever which means there’s no stopping me because I want it done in God’s timing and not mine! Let’s grow together!